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Literary Excavations

Tag Archives: Maus

While reading Art Spiegleman’s graphic novel, Maus, it is important to remember that the work is essentially the interpretation of a memory, of a traumatic experience, during a particularly dark point in human history. The relationship between Art and his father, Vladek, constantly draws attention to this. Throughout the course of the graphic novel, Art acts as something of an historian, seeking to reconcile History with personal experience. This experience defines Vladek so intensely that both the story and the man seem one-in-the same—a piece of history that must be interpreted to be intelligible. It is through such interpretation and (by extension) artistic expression, that Vladek’s story is able to join the larger, historical Holocaust narrative without losing its singularity.